A striking example of a business exploiting their niche market is exhibited by Crate and Barrel, achieving an important billion dollar sales touch point by innovating a unique Gift Registry App.

Crate and Barrel is no novel player in the Furniture industry. Founded in 1962, Chicago, and acquired exclusively by the Otto Group in 2011, it has an astounding history of innovation and expansion leading to its total sales of $1.5 billion as of 2015.

One of these innovations includes employing a Mobile app strategy which comprised of the unveiling of a Wedding Gift Registry app to enhance the customers’ shopping experience.

Why a Gift Registry app for Furniture?

Well, a research by XO Group Inc. (formerly The Knot Inc.) in 2013 elaborated that the Bridal registry and gifting market summed up to a total value of $10 billion.

Out of the $10 billion market’s customers 61% of the couples registered for Furniture related Gifts, according to a survey by Lifestyle.

The other important figure is that 89% of the people used their smart phones to create and manage their registries.

Keeping in observance the market and motivated on enhancing customer experience, Crate and Barrel introduced their “Wedding and Gift Registry App”.

Features of Wedding and Gift Registry Mobile App by Crate and Barrel

The mobile application was added to Crate and Barrel’s repertoire with the purpose of increasing in store traffic whilst providing the customers with the luxury of being able to manage their registries at any point of time from their palms.

The functionalities and user friendliness of the app is admirable and it quickly caught heat since it’s unveiling. The app was widely adopted and extensively used by everyone around.

The Crate and Barrel Wedding and Gift Registry app was NOMINATED FOR THE 2013 WEBBY AWARDS*, for the category Shopping (Handheld Devices), a nomination unprecedented by any furniture store ever.

*A Webby Award is an award for excellence on the Internet presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over one thousand industry experts and technology innovators. It is hailed as the “Oscars of the Internet”.

In the end, the app is a stunning illustration of how the services of a mobile app can be exploited in a brick and mortarstore. Digitizing the traditional industry has allowed Crate and Barrel to offer their audiences a seamless experience whether they’re on the showroom floor or laying in a bed, procuring the upsurge of customer loyalty.